“For it had been better for men to be born dumb and devoid of reason than to turn the gifts of providence to their mutual destruction.”

—  Quintilian

Book XII, Chapter I, 2; translation by H. E. Butler
De Institutione Oratoria (c. 95 AD)

Original

Mutos enim nasci et egere omni ratione satius fuisset quam providentiae munera in mutuam perniciem convertere.

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Quintilian 18
ancient Roman rhetor 35–96

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